


perfection

by noneislefttoprotest



Series: 岩谷 - iwatani [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Abusive Parents, Angst, Dysfunctional Family, Gen, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, these tags are a DOOZY
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:48:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29416647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noneislefttoprotest/pseuds/noneislefttoprotest
Summary: Dig Iwatani was supposed to be the perfect heir, the perfect man, the perfect son. Fate had different plans for him - but that didn't mean it would come easily.
Series: 岩谷 - iwatani [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2161056
Kudos: 1





	perfection

_fathom: shit shit shit @hypnos @dig_

_fathom: dude come home asap_

_fathom: dad’s home early_

━━━✦❘༻ 岩谷 ༺❘✦━━━

Earlier in the day, Dig was afraid of riding on Hypnos’ motorcycle, enough that the biker went slower specifically for his comfort. Now, nothing was fast enough.

He held on tight to his ~~friend~~ ~~classmate~~ _friend_ , feeling his muscles shift as he expertly piloted the vehicle faster and faster, swerving through cars and people and urban decoration. Soon enough, they entered the side of town with the big manors and even larger mansions, of which the Iwatani family mansion was one of the biggest: A huge, pristine white wonder of modern architecture. Hypnos had barely stopped moving when Dig let go of him and stumbled off of the motorcycle.

“Are you going to be okay?” Hypnos asked.

“Yeah, sure.” he answered, absentmindedly, ripping the helmet off of his head and shaking his hair. “I’ll, uh, message you how it goes. Goodbye.”

“Dig-” he called, but Dig already put his hand on the biometric reader and bolted inside.

He ignored the servant in the foyer who was supposed to grab his coat, and paused as soon as he saw his family standing, staggered, across the living room.

“What the _hell_ are you wearing?” Hiroto Iwatani asked, his piercing eyes boring into his oldest son’s soul. “And what is _that_ all over your pants?”

Dig immediately felt like he was a small child again. His father had always had this effect on people, but on him specifically.

He suddenly realized he had never given Hypnos’ leather jacket back.

“I… went to Hypnos Blair’s house after class. We’re in the same major, and he has dogs, this jacket is his-”

“You were spending time with who!?”

“The son of-”

“I know who he is.” he snapped back. “You should not be in the presence of… a _rebellious queer_ like him.” he spit out.

Dig looked at the other members of his immediate family. His brother was standing near the sofa, his eyes red and his face paint scrubbed clean, his sister Ebb was sitting with a blanket covering her legs - she was probably wearing something “too short” for their father’s liking.

The heir, the spare, and the bargaining chip. Their mother was standing on the staircase, clutching a glass of rosé.

“Yes sir.” Dig choked out.

“Go take that awful thing off. And clean yourself up, you’re filthy.”

“Yes sir.” he repeated, and bolted up the stairs, taking care to not let show that he was about to cry until he reached his suite.

_Real men don’t cry._

_Real men don’t cry._

_Real men don’t cry._

_Real men don’t cry._

_Real men don’t have bleached long hair._

_Real men don’t pet dogs during class._

_Real men don’t cook._

_Real men don’t enjoy holding onto their male friends._

He was never going to live up to his father’s expectations. He was never going to be as perfect as he was supposed to be.

He threw his phone onto his bed, and started sobbing. His chest hurt from how hard he was crying. His father’s commanding voice rang out from downstairs.

Dig ripped the hair tie out of his ponytail, threw the jacket onto the floor and started unbuttoning his shirt violently. Screw that it’s Armani, screw that his phone is worth thousands of pounds, screw everything. What was his education, his good breeding, his upbringing, what was any of that for, if he couldn’t be happy? What was it all worth, if he couldn't be around the people he wanted to be around?

He suddenly became aware of himself. Crying in the middle of a millionaire room, shirtless and wearing filthy pants.

This wasn’t proper. He shook his head, his hair falling down over his face, and headed over to his ensuite bathroom. He wasn’t in the mood to draw a bath, just an unremarkable shower, to wipe the tears off of his eyes and calm him down.

Dig finished stripping and stepped into the spacious shower, the water already warmed up and flowing. His tears mixing with the water urged him to stop crying, and he smoothed his features under the warmth of the stream. He cleaned himself quickly, and stepped out feeling more grounded. Feeling numb-er.

He didn’t bother drying his hair fully, or putting on anything other than boxers. He just slipped under his soft covers, and looked at his phone out of reflex. Five messages.

_fathom: hey bro u doin ok?_

_dig: no worse than usual_

━

_ebb: he yelled at the two of us as well. probably mom too_

_dig: not news_

━

_hypnos: hey how did it go_

_hypnos: i’m sorry if i got you into trouble_

_hypnos: if you don’t want to talk to me again, it’s fine ;-;_

_dig: Don’t feel bad, it… happens as often as you’d expect._

_dig: I forgot to return your jacket._

_hypnos: keep it_

_hypnos: it’s the least i can do._


End file.
